Russia Said to Study Oil-Tax Increase to Narrow Budget Gap
- Nation faces `unprecedented' financial squeeze from oil slump
- State may gain about $24 billion in 2016-2018 on tax change
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Russia may raise taxes on its main source of revenue -- crude producers -- to narrow its budget deficit starting from next year, two people with knowledge of the matter said Friday.
The authorities in Moscow have started discussions with companies about changing at least a crude-extraction tax formula, one of the people said. The modification, if approved, could bring the state about 609 billion rubles (around $9 billion) next year and 1.6 trillion through 2018, he said, citing Finance Ministry estimates. Both people asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public yet.